For one, myself and her do not have H.I.V. but i had a cut on my lip when i was giving her oral (eating her out), i know the risks of recieving H.I.V. are extremly low but i'm scared that something could happen because what if my blood got into her body, i mean im not infected and neither is she but i was wondering if anything could happen anyways... i have some symptoms like dry mouth, loss of apetite, and tired-ness, and she got a fever and felt flu-like the next day. I am a paranoid wreck right now and i need someone to inform me on what i should do, should i get tested or should i disregard this because there is no chance of H.I.V. just springing up, somebody please answer my queston...

Please do not listen to anything that previous poster says. He is a weirdo who puts the whole world at risk with his dumb ideas.People do get infected with HIV from oral sex. I did. I only had oral sex and now I'm pos. But they don't get HIV the way you were talking about. If neither one of you is pos (are you really sure she's never been with someone who could have HIV?) you cannot give each other HIV this way or any other way.

When James and his wife walked into one of the VCT (VoluntaryCounselling and Testing) centres to know their HIV status, they werejust going to confirm what they have believed for so many years: theywere HIV negative.

But when the tests were done, the results sent their heads spinning.James was found to be HIV negative, but his wife, with whom they hadhad unprotected sex for over six years, turned out to be HIVpositive.

They did not believe this test, and decided to confirm it with severalother laboratories in different areas. The results remainedinvariable: James HIV negative, wife positive.

The counsellor who attended to the couple says they are slowly tryingto come to terms with this devastating and bewildering development.

They are not alone. An increasingly high number of couples arelearning through testing, that despite having unprotected sex for along time with their partners, only one of them has the HIV (HumanImmuno-deficiency Virus).

This phenomenon is causing confusion and threatening to break up manyrelationships.

But at the same time, notes Dr Surendra Patel who operates a clinic inWestlands, the partner who has managed to remain negative under thecircumstances is extremely important. .

He or she may provide some of the answers in the development of avaccine.

With a similar phenomenon being observed on a large scale in parts ofSouth Africa, HIV experts believe it is one area where massiveresearch is going to take place.

Such couples are known as HIV discordant couples, which is a statewhereby two partners, despite having unprotected sex with each otherfor along time, one is found to be HIV positive and the othernegative.

The number of discordant couples is increasing as more people open upfor HIV testing.

At Kenyatta National Hospital VCT centre, an estimated 10 to 15 percent of the couples who get tested turn out to be discordant.

Dr David Bukusi, the facilities project manager, says even when theyget such results; they do not reveal them to the HIV negative partnerwithout the consent of the one found to be positive.

"We follow strict guidelines as far as confidentiality is concerned.The HIV status of a person, no matter how closely one is related tohim or her, can only be revealed with the consent of the person whohas been tested."

Besides, he says, they have to counsel the two partners beforereleasing the results to them.

For now, HIV experts are trying to put the dots together to explain totheir clients why only one of them has the virus, which he or she isnot passing to the other.

"One thing that is becoming clear to researchers is that the infectedpartner is not getting opportunistic infections despite having thevirus for a long time," says Dr Moses Otsyula, an HIV expert and headof virology department at the Institute of Primate Research.

Their CD4 counts are not declining (the body�s defence cells whoselevel is used to determine when one has to start using ARVs).

And they have very low viral loads (amount of HIV in the body) intheir semen or vagina, which could explain why they are not infectingthe negative partner.

Still, other theories abound. According to Dr Patel, one of the manyother theories is that the HIV negative partner is believed to produceparticular anti-bodies known as chemokinines, which prevents him orher from getting infected by the positive partner.

For women, new research is showing that the so-called microphage cellsfound on the lining of their vagina, maybe the answer behind theirprotection. These cells are the sites or receptors used by the HIVvirus to enter a person�s blood cells.

It has been suggested that women with a lot of mucus in their vaginaoffer a heavy protective gear to these cells, making it difficult forthe HIV virus to reach and infect them. and infect a person.

Others are said to prevent infection by means that remaincontroversial. They have a form of bacteria known as lactobacillus,which exists naturally in their virginal tract.

This lactobacillus makes the virginal environment acidic, which killsthe HIV virus once it comes into contact with it.

But in many women, such an acidic environment is lacking, and theresearchers believe they can introduce this strain of the bacteriainto the woman to boost the acidic environment.

Likewise, it is believed, some women have Killer-T cells, whichprotect them from infection. Incidentally, this is the sameinformation used by Kenyan and British researchers to develop avaccine, which is now moving to phase two of the trials.

In the Kenya Aids Vaccine Initiative case, commercial sex workers inMajengo slums were found to remain HIV negative even after havingunprotected sex with infected men.

Later research on the women found that they had particular anti-bodiesknown as Killer T-cells, which protect them from HIV infection.

Investigations are being carried out on discordant couples where thewoman is HIV negative and the husband is positive. It is still notclear if the negative partner can hold on forever without gettinginfected.

To doctors, without an answer to these theories in sight, their briefnow is to help couples deal with the situation.

Says Dr Patel, who has been dealing with HIV/Aids patients for over 18years: "It is one of the most tricky things taking place now. Thebiggest challenge is to help the negative partner to accept andsupport the infected partner."

In his recent observation among his clients, Dr Patel and Dr Otsyulafound that out of 31 couples they tested, 23 were discordant couples.

Some of them have stayed in a sexual relationship with the infectedpartner for more than six years without the infected one passing thevirus to the other.

And when these discordant couples brought their children for testing,all of them were free of the virus.

Doctors like Patel say in such scenario, they have to handle the casevery carefully to pre-empt any violence against the partner who is HIVpositive, especially if it is the woman.

Proper communication and counselling, he says, is very important inmaking couples accept what is happening to them.

Some men have been known to engage in a violent break-up of relations,accusing their wives of promiscuity. However, others haveoffered ashoulder for their wives to lean on.

One of the counsellors at the Kenyatta hospital VCT, has freshmemories of a moving case where an HIV negative man agreed to supporthis wife of eight years after HIV tests established she had the virus.

"Every time she comes for her sessions in the support groups, heaccompanies her as well as buying her drugs. It is just amazing," saysthe counsellor.

Many HIV experts agree that husbands or wives who accept thisphenomenon and support the victim with the virus are very few.

"It is very difficult for people to accept a phenomenon that manyscientists are yet to understand fully," observes Dr Otsyula, an HIVexpert and head of virology department at the Institute of PrimateResearch.

Like Ostyula and Patel, doctors who deal with such couples are alsofinding it difficult to convince them to use a condom during sexualintercourse.

Most couples continue having unprotected sex with their infectedpartners even after being advised not to do so.

Dr Patel says 50 per cent of the discordant couples they counselled onsafe sex dropped the idea of using the condom after some time.

And in another observation, only one out of the 23 discordant coupleswho were advised to use a condom used it. This is worrying Aidsexperts.

They argue that the receptor cells (the cells on which the HIV virusattach on before entering the body cells) in the negative couple mayincrease at one point in life, leading to infection.

The other worry is that the HIV negative partner may think he or sheis safe from contracting the virus, and decide to engage inunprotected sex outside marriage.

This may expose him or her to acquiring other venereal diseases likegonorrhoea or syphilis.

OK, now first of all, the last person who responded criticizing the prior person, is himself/herself an idiot as well.

It is overly broad and too non-specific to say that oral sex is a risk for HIV infection. The only kind of oral sex that poses this risk is giving blowjobs, deepthroating (with or without ejaculation), and letting any sort of semen into one's mouth.

Secondly, it is true that if neither person has HIV then neither can catch it as a result of sharing each other's fluids. But people don't always test positive for HIV right away, and many times don't even know that they have it, and say that they are "clean" just because they assume that is the case. Not only that, but HIV is not the only virus that can lead to AIDS, as is seen with ICL people who have no trace of HIV in their blood, but have all the AIDS defining illnesses, and turn out to be homosexual men or iv drug users half the time, indicating what they have was acquired from someone else.

The only way of not worrying yourself is to know the facts. It is pointless to worry about HIV infection AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT FIT INTO A FEW MAJOR RISK GROUPS: these are MEN who have SEX with MEN, ANYONE who shares needles with others, and WOMEN who have sex with MEN from these first two groups. In other words, if you are a guy, and you don't want to get HIV or AIDS, do NOT allow another man to cum inside your body (anus or mouth) and do NOT share needles with anyone. for the ladies, do NOT allow any man who might be bisexual or a needle drug user to cum ANYWHERE inside you (mouth anus or vagina) and do NOT yourself share NEEDLES with ANYONE. PERIOD. now since it is almost impossible to know for sure what a guy does in his privacy, the ladies have to be a lot more careful than the guys do. LADIES.... SEX WITHOUT A CONDOM IS SUICIDE FOR YOU. DON'T DO IT. PERIOD. DON'T BE STUPID. MANY WOMEN ARE NOW GETTING AIDS BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T BOTHER TO WEAR A CONDOM. it is not the same, however for straight guys. the reason is too complicated to go into right now, but for many reasons, straight guys (as long as they are circumcized) are not in any real danger of getting AIDS from sleeping with women (condom or no condom). you guys are young but you deserve to know the facts, not the oversimplified and politically correct public school AIDS education that winds up backfiring and getting even more of you infected.

You say that you were infected via oral sex. Do you mean as the giver or receiver? That makes a HUGE difference. It has been noted that people CAN contract HIV by giving oral sex. Small chance, but still a chance. For the person getting sucked, that is a TOTALLY different story. Which were you?

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